To mark Eternal Law starting on ITV, we look back at some of the show’s feathery forerunners
(opens in new tab)
Eternal Law is ITV1’s new show about angelic lawyers. But they’re far from the first small screen celestial moonlighters…
Angels In America
2003
(opens in new tab)
Angel: Angel (Emma Thompson)
Wings? Yep, though they seem more of an annoying encumbrance, especially when it comes to sex.
Angels In America was a lavish HBO miniseries based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about AIDS and Regan-era politics, directed by Mike Nichols ( Catch 22 , Silkwood ) and with a cast that is the very definition of all-star: Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker. At the times critics loved it and audiences flocked to it, but in hindsight… it was a tad dull and worthy to be honest.
Thompson’s angel did liven things up, though, even if she came from a Heaven that looked like the aftermath of a party in Las Vegas Dubai-themed hotel. Charged with trying to save an AIDS sufferer from death so he can save the world by making God ignore it (or something) she wasn’t exactly your typical angel. She likes a good shag for a start – well, she does allegedly have up to eight vaginas – and at one point burst into flames during some mid-air sex.
.